The walls of the new Schnuck's supermarket go up at Duck Creek Plaza. The new store will join Home Depot, Walgreens and McDonald's in the rejunvenated retail location at Middle Road and East Kimberly Road. For Schnuck's, the Bettendorf store will be its first in Iowa. For more information on the St. Louis-based grocery store chain, click on the more button below.
Edwin H. Schnuck and Anna Donovan Schnuck founded Schnuck Markets, Inc., in St. Louis in 1939. Over the past 64-years, the company has grown to include 100 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Mississippi and now ranks number 83 on the list of the nation's largest family-owned and operated companies. Known locally as "The Friendliest Stores in Town, " Schnucks was one of the first supermarkets to successfully market products in the now popular combination food and drug stores format. In fact, Schnucks history is full of firsts including the following:
* 1939: Edwin and Anna Schnuck opened the first Schnucks store in north St. Louis, which measures about 1,000-square-feet.
* 1946: The Schnuck Family opened a 2,700-square-foot store, it's first large-scale retail enterprise.
* 1952: Schnuck Markets, Inc. opened its first major supermarket in the St. Louis suburb of Brentwood, Mo.
* 1955: Schnucks opened its 17,000-square-foot Dellwood store, the company's first combination store and the first to feature a service bakery.
* 1968: Schnucks introduced its "Revolutionary Low Prices" advertising campaign, which included the now famous Schnucks soldier. Today, the Schnucks soldier continues to be one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the St. Louis area.
* 1970: Schnucks is among the first to introduce in-store pharmacies in St. Louis. The company now operates 81 such pharmacies in Schnucks stores, five of which have drive-through windows for added convenience. Schnucks also owns and operates a stand-alone pharmacy in Illinois.
* 1970: Schnucks acquired Bettendorf-Rapp, a division of Allied Foods.
* 1971: Schnucks is among the first food retailers nationally to provide unit pricing information to its customers by introducing its Tela-Price shelf tags. These tags help customers make the best possible purchase by listing the item's cost per ounce, per pound or other unit of measure.
* 1978: Schnucks introduced the Nutri-Guide consumer information program to help customers identify fat-modified, calorie-controlled and sodium-restricted foods through color-coded shelf labels.
* 1983: Twenty-three soup and salad bars were installed in Schnucks stores to provide additional service and convenience to customers.
* 1985: Schnucks expanded its operation into Kansas City, Mo., central and southern Illinois and southern Indiana.
* 1995: Schnucks acquired the assets of the National Tea Company grocery store operations, a subsidiary of Loblaw Companies Limited. In addition to property and stores in Missouri and Illinois, as part of the acquisition, Schnucks also purchased two parcels of undeveloped land and assumed certain warehouse leases. Schnucks eventually sold 24 of the stores, but with 25 net new stores, the acquisition significantly increased the Company's market share in the St. Louis area.
* June 1997: Schnucks launched its Home Shopping Club, the area's first full-scope, internet-based grocery shopping service which allows customers to select and arrange for direct home delivery of more than 15,000 products available at Schnucks stores. Computer World magazine included the Schnucks website in their list of the "100 Most Effective Users of Internet Technologies in the U.S."
* August 1997: Schnucks announced the sale of seven stores in metro Kansas City to Hy-Vee, Inc., of West Des Moines, Iowa. Company leaders recognized that, in order to reach a sufficient size and scale to become profitable in the already over-saturated, they must commit a significant amount of financial resources to the expansion of Schnucks' presence in Kansas City. They opted, instead to pull out of the market altogether.
* March 1998: Schnucks purchased three Logli stores in Rockford, Ill. Logli is the leading supermarket chain in the Rockford market.
* September 1998: In an issue of Mass Market Retailers, the magazine named Schnucks the most successful provider of supermarket drug store services in the U.S. as measured by share of market.
* October 1998: Supermarket News, a national trade weekly, ranked Schnucks among the nation's top five supermarket video rental operations. The magazine also recognized Schnucks as the fourth largest supermarket video rental operation in the country, based on revenues, merchandising aggressiveness and creativity.
* May 2002: Schnucks expands into Wisconsin with the opening of the fifth Logli Supermarket in Janesville.
* June 2002: Schnucks expands into Tennessee and Mississippi when the company acquires the 12-store Seessel's division of supermarkets from Albertson's, Inc. of Boise, Idaho, creating the new Schnucks Mid-South division.
